NHL Jets Games To Air On TSN3, Eliminating Fans' Need To Pay $60 Subscription Fee

Jets execs believe the added exposure will make up for initial loss of revenue

The NHL Jets this season will have 65 regional games "broadcast live on TSN3," meaning fans "will no longer have to pay an extra $60 to pick up those games on the tube," according to Jim Bender of the WINNIPEG SUN. The "previously-offered subscription to TSN Jets is no longer required" as a result of the games being moved to TSN3. Jets Senior Dir of Corporate Communications Scott Brown said, "I don’t expect we’ll lose much revenue. It means a massive increase in the exposure of our product, which will more than make up for it." Bender notes TSN3 will be "one of five regional feeds offered by TSN." The Jets games "will be more widely available in the region that includes all of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and parts of Northwestern Ontario." Brown said that the games "will be blacked out outside of those areas." All five new channels "will debut on Aug. 25" (WINNIPEG SUN, 8/19). There "won’t be any change" in the Jets' broadcast booth this year, as play-by-play announcer Dennis Beyak "will carry over to TSN3," along with analysts Shane Hnidy and Brian Engblom. There "will also be a 30-minute pre- and post-game show." Radio coverage of live games "will remain on TSN 1290" (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 8/19).

CLEARER PICTURE: The NATIONAL POST notes Canada’s sports networks yesterday "sent out a flurry of press releases ... that further enunciated the plans for their NHL regional English-language hockey broadcasts." Adding to the national picture now controlled exclusively by Rogers, viewers "now know where every game involving one of the seven Canadian teams will appear" (NATIONAL POST, 8/19).